Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Extreme cycling

As on many other streets of George Town, walking up Mint Street is an art; put in a couple of conditions - one, that you will not pause in your steps and two, you will not come into bodily contact with anyone - and the walk can easily be turned into an urban challenge that cannot be easily overcome. Though it widens at certain points, Mint Street is predominantly narrow, the kind of narrowness caused by lack of pavements, vendors sitting on the sides and haphazard parking. People on two wheels - or on feet - will probably travel one-and-a-half times the distance they intend to travel, having to constantly veer off to avoid the traffic and fellow pedestrians.

But here was a set of travellers intent on taking the shortest path to their destination; the little fellow must have been just 6 or 7 years old and he was putting all his might into pedalling, trying to stay ahead of the truck. The truck, in turn was looking for an opening to get ahead of the tricycles and did not seem to be paying attention to the kids - thankfully, one of them jumped off the cycle, bringing the whole set to a halt before anything more damaging could happen!





3 comments:

Lowell said...

Love your commentary. I'm not sure I could negotiate your streets - would probably get run down or run off!

laksframes said...

Hi!, I visited the (other one !) and got to yours. good post. on a recent visit to chennai, figured 2-wheeler is much better to navigate through the street than four ! Following your blog via mine (http://laks-frames.blogspot.com/) Keep up the good work.

Shantaram said...

@ Jacob: Thanks (again)!! Tackling these streets is an art and I've lost a lot of my skill in that!

@ Laks-frames: Oh yes; and if you're in a new city, two feet are better than wheels, is my thinking... and thanks for the kind words!